Dream
by TheLittleLight
Summary: Tenten's fears eat away at her heart. Slowly losing confidence in her worth, Neji must show her that she matters, if not to the world, then to him.


All characters to Kishimoto. Nothing is mine.

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><p><em>Hyuga... what are we? What am I to you? It's not fair. You're so strong, you are a great shinobi from a great family. So many people wonder why we're together. They say you waste your time with me; that you can get better, that you deserve better. They say it so often, I'm starting to believe them. <em>Tenten's frustrations were all going unnoticed. They were all hidden behind a carefully crafted wall.

It was a clear day and the sun shone warmly upon Konoha. Neji and Tenten were in the training field exhausted after their match. He was leaning on his favourite tree meditating while she sat meters away cleaning her weapons. The quiet clanking of metal against metal was doing little to relax her. Usually it did but today was an exception.

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><p>Last night, she had a very distressing dream. At first it was wonderful, it started like many good dreams she has had in the past. She and Neji were sitting in the very same field. He would have his arms around her and she had her face buried into his chest, marveling at the hardness of his muscles. It felt so safe and warm. It was perfect.<p>

This is where her dream changed. Instead of leaning in to kiss her, he breathed a labored sigh. She looked up and his eyes looked uncertain. This was not good. Neji's_ never _uncertain. Overhead, the skies began to darken and the soft breeze began to whip her hair into her face.

'I'm getting married. I've finally found a suitable bride. We can't be together anymore.'

Tenten recalled waking that morning in a sweat, tears threatening to fall at any moment. _Finally? So I was never good enough._ It suddenly felt so cold in her room; she couldn't stop shaking. _It's just a dream. It's just a dream. _But somewhere in the back of her mind was another voice saying it felt too real.

She tried soaking in a warm bath but that didn't help stop the tears from gliding down her face, from the eyes that held a plain brown color. Nothing special. There was nothing special about her eyes. No impressive bloodline. No name to call her own. She was just Tenten.

She felt special because of Neji. He made all other details seem insignificant. It didn't matter that she was no one. As long as Neji was with her, she had a purpose and something to live for. He was a friend, her family, and being with him made her a stronger ninja. More importantly, she was a better person. She had nothing if she didn't have her team.

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><p>She felt the tears beginning to form and desperately tried to remind herself that it was just a dream. She began to think of happy memories, angry ones, boring ones; anything to distract her from sadness. By now, she had stopped polishing her weapons. She realized that she had been staring blankly at the green forest.<p>

She shifted her attention back to the sword she was holding. She read the engraving near the hilt, _To Tenten, from Neji. _He had given her this sword on her eighteenth birthday. It was one of her favorites and she adored wielding it. It fit her personality perfectly, just like he did.

She had no idea how long she had been staring at it until a hand on her shoulder brought her back to the present. 'Tenten,' his voice was like silk, 'are you okay? You've been so quiet this morning. What's wrong?'

'It's nothing, I'm fine.'

'Tenten, we both know that's a lie.' He kneeled beside her and gently pried the sword from her battle-worn hands and placed it on the ground. With his left hand he entangled his fingers with hers, while his right tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear before stroking her cheek affectionately. 'Please tell me what's wrong. I don't want to see you upset. You've been distracted all morning.'

_So he knew the whole time._ His eyes burned through her defenses, her wall was destroyed and with it, her will to keep her dream a secret. She confessed to him her nightmare and the concern in his eyes touched her. He wrapped his arms around her possessively and brought her head to rest on his shoulder.

'Tenten, it was just a dream.' He stroked her back and stilled her slight tremors. She leaned into his comforting embrace and listened to the sweet promises of loyalty and devotion to her.

Tears fell from her eyes but for a different reason. Neji saw the tears but didn't realize that they were tears of joy instead so he kissed her tears away. 'Please, don't cry, anymore. You don't need to waste any more tears for this.' But before she could respond and tell him what they were really for, his lips found hers and she decided she liked this better.

She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Neji moved until she was on her back and he was on top of her. She broke from the kiss, breathless but Neji never lifted his lips from her body. Instead he focused on her jaw and neckline. He knew he hit a sensitive spot when a moan bubbled from her throat.

His right hand moved from her waist and crept into her shirt and stroked her side, sliding higher and higher until it was caressing the side of her breast. 'N-Neji! What are you doing?' panic, among other things, began building in the pit of her stomach.

'Cheering you up,' he explained. His voice was muffled as he made love to her neck.

_He's too damn sexy_, she thought. 'We c-can't do this now…' she moaned.

He looked up from her neck with a smirk, 'You're not really convincing me to stop.'

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><p>I'm back! :D It's short but sweet. Reviews appreciated, help me improveencourage me/tell me I suck... but please try to be polite :D Hope you liked it :3


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